Solitude is Bliss: A testimonial at Ireland's oldest club

Solitude - home of Cliftonville

 Some 145 years ago, football on the Emerald Isle became a reality on Cliftonville Street in Belfast. The first club on the island were formed in the shape of Cliftonville, whose storied history is well worth a deep dive into. That said, we may get into that a little more later on. For now, the 2025/26 season is well under way for me following trips to Drogheda United and Glenavon  and the next stop will be Belfast, where Cliftonville are based along with a host of other clubs.

I'm sure the likes of Glentoran, Linfield and Crusaders will receive a visit from me somewhere along the way, but on this, the fifth day of my Irish adventure, I would be set to take in a third game in as many days. Spending all of yesterday pretending to be a journalist at Glenavon took a lot out of me, but thankfully I could take it a little easier after this match, with the next one set to be Larne's Europa Conference League qualifier against Auda in Ballymena.

Much like Glenavon's game yesterday, Cliftonville's match against Derry City today also marks something of a celebration, this time of Joe Gormley, who's been something of a stalwart at Solitude, with 289 goals in 520 appearances across three spells. This friendly marks his testimonial, and a quick glance at his career will tell you he's exactly the kind of player we should be celebrating. 

Now aged 35, Gormley did also have spells at Peterborough United and St Johnstone, though both were littered with injury problems that had Gormley rapidly falling out of love with the game. Naturally, a return to Cliftonville revived his love for the game, with a third spell that was arguably even more fruitful than the second (if we count his initial two years at the club with just four appearances as a 'spell'). They call him Joe 'The Goal' Gormley for good reason.

It reminds me a little of his compatriot who had managed to make himself something of a modern Stevenage icon, Ben Kennedy. Though he forged a brilliant seven years for himself in England, it was clear that Kennedy needed a change of scenery - more specifically to go back to his home in Northern Ireland. He did so, and ended up thriving at Crusaders for four years before moving to Ballymena United, where it seems he's doing the same thus far.

Ultimately, it just goes to show the importance of something as simple as feeling at home, and this is not to say a player can't thrive and make a home for himself, but sometimes it can make such a substantial difference.

A free badge with purchase of a programme.

For some reason, they picked on Ballymena...

Cliftonville 2-2 Derry City

Anyway, I left Lurgan fairly early in order to once again drop my bag off at my accomodation in Belfast, early check-in not really being an option. I had a bit of time to grab a late breakfast and/or early lunch, so I did that and then made my way to Solitude for a nice early 1pm kick-off.

On arriving into Belfast, it only took around ten minutes for a kind middle aged lady to ask if I was lost, and refer to me as 'wee man'. I kindly told her I was fine but I appreciated the concern. I've always said finding kinder people than the Irish is a heck of a challenge. 

Derry City were actually coming off the back of a jubilant 7-2 win just a couple of days prior to this match, so one would assume something of a rotation would occur. For Cliftonville, they'd only played once on Thursday since last season - a 1-0 success over last season's sole relegated side Loughgall. Given the nature of the game, much like yesterday's Glenavon affair, the result would end up being pretty immaterial here, especially given that Cliftonville travel to Gibraltar on Tuesday in a rescheduled Europa Conference League qualifier against St Joseph's.

The programme had even said that the man whose testimonial it was would almost certainly not play the full ninety minutes. Even in spite of that, the man of the moment still managed to open the scoring with a wonderful chip over Derry City's Arlo Doherty. Not much else happened in the first-half beyond the heavens opening and closing on several occasions in true Irish style. It reminded me of the weather at Hebburn last season - my very first game of 2024-25, which incidentally was on exactly the same day.

The second half was simply a mission to stay dry, which was incredibly difficult in Cliftonville's charming but tightly enclosed ground. Thankfully it rained in varying brief intervals, meaning I often only had to duck into the shelter that stopped me being able to view the game for a short while. I didn't really miss much, and the game didn't offer a lot despite the scoreline.

Derry were able to equalise from the spot through Adam O'Reilly, before Dan Mullen's penalty toward the end of the game seemed to have won it for the away side. Only two minutes later had Cliftonville's Ryan Corrigan rescued a "point" at the death from the spot. 

It was an enjoyable occasion, with Derry City fans making some noise in the first-half (then disappearing for the second-half oddly), as well as some of the younger Cliftonville fans attempting to start some chants. That said, it was about as lively on and off the pitch overall as you'd expect for a rainy Sunday pre-season friendly, testimonial or otherwise.

If you've made it this far into the blog, I'd love to know who is next in line for a testimonial at your club, and do you think they'll get it? For Stevenage, Luther James-Wildin is about to start his eighth season, so I might pencil in his testimonial now... 

Five things you didn't know about Cliftonville

1. The club were founded in 1879 by John McAlery, who is widely considered the father of Irish football having captained the national team in their first ever match in 1882. Cricket was one of McAlery's initial interests, though it was a honeymoon in Scotland that introduced him to football. The rest is history.

2. Cliftonville hold a remarkable record of never having been relegated in their 135 year history, which is the longest of any club worldwide. That said, it is a record they share with Celtic, as well as Belfast rivals Linfield and Glentoran.

3. The club competed in the English FA Cup in the 1880s, beating Blackburn 7-2, but losing 11-0 to Partick Thistle in 1886-87. A 7-0 loss to Linfield the following season marked the first and only FA Cup match to ever be played on Christmas Day.

4. What do Cibalia of Croatia, Barry Town United of Wales, and Differdange 03 of Luxembourg have in common? Well, they're the only three sides of the last fifteen years that Cliftonville have been able to beat in European competitions. They have played the likes of CSKA Sofia, Copenhagen and Debrecen in that time, but perhaps most notable has been their Champions League tie against Celtic - a club that many Cliftonville fans also have great affinity for. Though the tie was lost 5-0 on aggregate, it's no surprise that Joe Gormley lists it as one of his favourite occasions in the programme.

5. Cliftonville are in a very special club known as the Club of Pioneers, meaning they are the oldest surviving club in their respective nation. Other clubs include Sheffield of England, Queen's Park of Scotland, Wrexham of Wales, St Gallen of Switzerland, and Royal Antwerp of Belgium, among a host of others.